Euro 2016: Everything you need to know about Wales v Portugal

Published:12:12Wednesday 06 July 2016

Wales v Portugal

Gareth Bale and co will look to go one step beyond this current expectation-defying semi-final, but they will have to get past Cristiano Ronaldo’s side, who are preparing for their fourth semi-final in the last five Euros.

Venue: Stade de Lyon, Lyon

Date: Wednesday July 6

Kick-off: 20:00 BST

Where can I watch it on TV?

Wales v Portugal will be broadcast on ITV1.

Teams

Both teams have selection issues ahead of this clash with Chris Coleman and Fernando Santos forced into making changes from their quarter-final line-ups.

Wales will be without Tottenham defender Ben Davies and Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsey – supplier of two assists against Belgium – with both serving one-game suspensions after picking up their second bookings of the tournament.

Leicester midfielder Andy King is expected to come in for Ramsey, while James Collins is likely to deputise for Davies.

Portugal meanwhile also have suspensions to contend with after William Carvalho was cautioned during the shoot-out victory over Poland, while Real Madrid defender Pepe is a doubt after skipping training on Monday with a thigh problem.

Ones to watch

Portugal: Cristiano Ronaldo

Ronaldo is his country’s star player, skipper and talisman. But he cannot shake the suggestion that he does not do it when it counts for his country and is no team player.

However, Southampton’s Jose Fonte insists he is the inspiration for the whole squad.

“He’s proved time and time again how good he is for the club and he is the best goalscorer in Portugal’s history,” he said.

“We believe in him and we just need to make sure, with him, we can achieve what we want. We want to win it and we believe we can do it.

“It is a privilege to be sharing the dressing-room with him. He has been an inspiration to me.”

Wales: Gareth Bale

He may be determined for this contest not to be billed as a ‘Bale v Ronaldo’ showdown, but with Aaron Ramsey missing an awful lot rests on the shoulders of Wales’ marquee player.

After the 26-year-old goaded the likes of England and Belgium ahead of their matches earlier in the tournament he has been nothing but respectful of Portugal ahead of this clash, but still insists Wales have no intention of going home yet.

He said: “I fully believed that we could do something at this championship and that is why I booked my holiday for 11 July – the day after the final.

“Look at the fairytales of Greece and Denmark [at Euro ‘92 and 2004] and you think: ‘Why can’t we do it?’

“We think it’s our time. We don’t want it to end here. We want to continue the journey and keep on fighting. Hopefully, we can make more history.

“We are going to go out and enjoy the occasion. We are not going to fear anything. We are not going to freeze.”

Head-to-head

This will be only the fourth meeting between the two sides - the previous three, including Portugal’s 3-0 win in June 2000, all being friendlies. Both sides racked up 21 points in qualifying, although Portugal’s record was the better of the two sides having played two games less.

Did you know?

Portugal have had five straight draws in this competition – beating Croatia in extra-time and Poland on penalties so far in the knockout stages. If they were to win on penalties again, Portugal would have to make history as no side has ever won shootouts in successive matches at the Euros.